Susan J. Demas: Marco Rubio is the perfect candidate for Millennials –– not Bernie Sanders

Bernie Sanders may have captured millennials' hearts, but Marco Rubio should really be their guy.

It's not because the 44-year-old Republican is obviously closer to that generation than Sanders, who will turn 75 before Election Day.

No, it's because Rubio embodies the ethos of Millennials, which the Washington Post snidely dubbed the "Participation Trophy Generation." Hey, it's an unflattering stereotype, but trend-story hazing is a rite of passage for each generation coming of age.

As a Generation Xer, I recall being told how lazy and entitled we all were, as well. And some of us were, just like snot-nosed twentysomethings who act like they're ready to run the company on their first day just because they know what Snapchat is. (Hey, I'm 90 percent sure that I do, although I've clearly never used it).

But Rubio is the ultimate "Participation Trophy" candidate of 2016. He's gone an embarrassing 0 for 4 in the first nominating contests. And yet he still parades around like he's the frontrunner, enabled by the desperate GOP establishment that's determined Rubio is their last, best (and dreamiest) hope against Donald Trump.

When Rubio finished third in Iowa, he had the chutzpah to give a victory speech. It wasn't a bad strategic move, and plenty of pundits ate it up. Politics is often about faking it till you make it, and the freshman senator has that motto down cold.

But then Rubio went on to take fifth in New Hampshire. He failed to capture a single delegate in South Carolina and still gave another "victory" speech. Donald Trump then crushed him 2-1 in Nevada.

And yet Rubio backers are out there goading other candidates to drop out, like Ted Cruz, who actually won something (Iowa) and John Kasich, who pulled out a surprise second-place finish in New Hampshire and could do well in the Midwest primaries ahead. New polling shows Rubio is even losing to Trump in his home state of Florida. 

Rubio has the swagger of a candidate who's never lost anything, because he hasn't until now. When Republican powerbrokers have been pumping you up as the fresh face of the party –– the only one who can defeat the Democrats –– it goes to your head.

People are always quick to blame parents for raising selfish millennials who crack under pressure. Maybe the Republican establishment deserves some for emboldening a green freshman senator. Because Marco Rubio obviously doesn't seem ready to be commander-in chief.

Susan J. Demas is Publisher and Editor of Inside Michigan Politics, a nationally acclaimed, biweekly political newsletter. Her political columns can be found at SusanJDemas.com. Follow her on Twitter here.

Could Michigan's restrictive student voter law hurt Bernie Sanders?

The kids may be all right -- but they may not be able to save Bernie Sanders in Michigan.

The Vermont U.S. senator made his first campaign visit here on Monday, dazzling college students at Eastern Michigan University and adding another stop in metro Detroit.

Michigan's March 8 primary could prove pivotal in the Democratic nominating contest, as it's just after Super Tuesday. The Flint water crisis has become a national firestorm, prompting Democrats to schedule a debate in the city on March 6. Little wonder why all three Clintons -- Hillary, Chelsea and Bill -- logged time in the state last week. 

Sanders' lock on younger voters helped him win a double-digit victory in New Hampshire, and almost put him over the top in Iowa. It's little wonder why he chose EMU as the site of his first Michigan event.

But Sanders could have a tougher time earning the youth vote in Michigan. That's because first-time voters  are barred from casting an absentee ballot if they didn't register to vote at a clerk's office or the Secretary of State –– which could impact college students.

Then there's the law that your voter registration address must be at the same address as your drivers license. But many college students keep their home address on their license. So if your license has your Detroit address, but you attend Michigan State University, you're still required by law to vote in Detroit. Since the primary is on a Tuesday, it's safe to say most students won't be home to vote.*

This law has been around for roughly 15 years, courtesy of then-state Sen. Mike Rogers (R-Brighton). Democrats have long groused that Rogers parlayed the law into a razor-thin victory for Congress in 2000, as many MSU students in the district discovered they couldn't vote on campus.

Now this same law might hurt Sanders on March 8, although the election may not be close enough to make a difference. Clinton held a commanding 32-point lead in Inside Michigan Politics/Target Insight's polling taken Feb. 2-4. And the former Secretary of State led every age group, including voters 18-34.

Still, the Democratic primary has been full on unexpected twists. Voter restrictions in Michigan could be another one. 

*This section has been updated at 4:12 p.m. with additional information.

Susan J. Demas is Publisher and Editor of Inside Michigan Politics, a nationally acclaimed, biweekly political newsletter. Her political columns can be found atSusanJDemas.com. Follow her on Twitter.

Watch the National Review shift the goalposts in the SCOTUS confirmation debate

Thanks to my former MLive editor, Jen Eyer, for directing me to this. 

Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia's unexpected death has triggered a furious debate whether President Obama should appoint a successor.

The idea that a president with more than 10 months left in his term shouldn't do so is curious, but let's not pretend this is a serious tussle over constitutional intent. 

This is about Republicans, who have a majority in the U.S. Senate, flexing their political muscles to prevent a Democratic president from reshaping the High Court, as is his right. And yes, Republicans have the right not to confirm a nominee. 

But it is breathtaking that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell sent out a statement shortly after Scalia's death decreeing that "the vacancy should not be filled until we have a new President." He's not arguing Obama's nominee is unqualified –– there is no nominee yet, of course. McConnell has declared that the Senate shouldn't confirm anyone, presumably even if Ronald Reagan came back to life armed with a law degree.

McConnell's stance is particularly questionable when you consider a 2007 piece in the National Review, the conservative journal of record. After the Democrats won control of the U.S. Senate in '06, there was great Republican consternation that then-President George W. Bush couldn't get a SCOTUS nominee confirmed.

National Review judicial columnist Edward Whelan argued thusly:

"Briefly put: Under long-established Senate practice, every Supreme Court nominee is afforded an up-or-down vote on the Senate floor. A departure from that practice would threaten to impose severe political costs on Senate Democrats. In a competently run confirmation campaign, a strong proponent of judicial restraint will win majority approval in the Senate, with votes to spare."

In 1988, the Senate followed the Whelan rule and voted confirm Reagan's Supreme Court nominee, Anthony Kennedy, on a 97-0 vote. This was during Reagan's last year in office, and yes, McConnell was one of the 97 votes.

But things change. Now a Democrat is president with a Republican Senate. And so has Whelan's argument. Not long after Scalia's death, he posted this:

"Senate Republicans would be grossly irresponsible to allow President Obama, in the last months of his presidency, to cement a liberal majority that will wreak havoc on the Constitution. Let the people decide in November who will select the next justice."

Whelan seems vaguely aware that this might contradict his previous position, so he throws this in here:

"There has never been an election-year confirmation that would so dramatically alter the ideological composition of the Court."

Gotcha. Keep moving those goalposts, sir.

Susan J. Demas is Publisher and Editor of Inside Michigan Politics, a nationally acclaimed, biweekly political newsletter. Her political columns can be found atSusanJDemas.com. Follow her on Twitter.

Welcome to my New Home!

I knew this day was coming for a month, but I still can’t believe it’s here. January 26 is the last day my column will run on MLive, which, as pretty much everyone knows, has announced a big restructuring. It’s been a bit lonely on the Opinion page for the last few weeks, as my statewide political columnist colleagues, Tim Skubick and Ken Braun, are already gone.

Don’t worry (or start cheering). My column isn’t disappearing. You can find it right here! I also have a new Facebook fan page. I’m thrilled that I’ll begin to write columns once again for The Huffington Post, and will be contributing to Taegan Goddard’s Political Wire, which is an indispensable source for what’s going on in politics today. I’ll be writing for other state and national publications, as well.

And, of course, with a busy election season, I will continue to provide the top-notch political analysis that my publication, Inside Michigan Politics, is known for. Owning my own business for over two years has been a dream come true, and I’m proud to be one of the (too) few female publishers and executive editors in the state.

But what I’d like to do here is thank the people I’ve had the pleasure of working with at MLive over the years. I’ve written columns there since 2008, starting with my “Capitol Chronicles” blog. My contributions there have been in various forms and frequency, but it’s been a great ride from start to finish.

Eight years is a long time to be somewhere (in journalism, that’s a lifetime.) I’ve tried my best to include everybody, and I apologize if I’ve overlooked anyone.

I worked with Bill Emkow the longest and he was just a rock. He’d always go to bat for journalists and had a passion for new media. James Schmehl and Justin Rogers helped me on the technical side of blogging (as I’m a Gen X dinosaur.)

I’ve known Meegan Holland pretty much since I moved to Michigan almost 12 years ago, and was delighted when she became my primary editor. You may have heard, but she’s moved on to bigger and better things. Dan Hawkins has been my editor since last year, and he has a wonderful eye for detail. Every writer needs an editor –– and I will sorely miss him being mine.

It’s been an honor to share Opinion page space with Ken, who has a unique conservative voice and more importantly, fabulous taste in women, as the brilliant Kathy Hoekstra will attest. And Skub and I go way back. Around the same time I started at MLive, he decided to start inviting me on “Off the Record” for some reason (he’s periodically shared viewer complaints about my hair being too long and distracting.) Tim is the best in the business and I already miss his daily contributions to MLive.

I’ve worked with several great reporters at MLive (although never in the office) –– Dave Eggert, Melissa Anders, Jeff Wattrick, Jonathan Oosting and the legendary Peter Luke. Two have a special place in my heart –– Emily Lawler, who I worked with in my MIRS days and whose love of cats and cycling is contagious –– and Angela Vasquez-Giroux, a poet at heart and one of the strongest women I know.

Jen Eyer and Tim Martin deserve my special thanks. They’ve had to monitor the hundreds of thousands (millions?) of reader comments on my columns, so they deserve hazard pay. I’ve always appreciated Jen’s insights (especially as a fellow mom) and her no-nonsense attitude. Tim and I served for years together in the Capitol press corps and he’s one of the absolutely nicest people I’ve known.

And finally, as a fellow media business executive, I have great respect for John Hiner and we’ve talked shop several times. I sincerely wish him luck as he navigates these difficult and uncertain times for the newspaper industry.

Thanks to everyone who’s read me over the years –– be it out of love, hate or both (depending on the day). All I know is that I never inspire indifference, which is something I’m very proud of. Writing should never be boring. I hope you’ll join me here, where I promise it never will be. 

Oh, noes! My newspaper's editorial page is biased!

A good 50 percent of my hate mail comes from folks accusing me of bias -- liberal, conservative, anti-warlock, you name it. Although the right-wing whack-jobs lately have been the most persistent (and potty-mouthed).

For some unknown reason, I feel the need to explain to folks that I write an opinion column, which, by its very definition, is biased. That, dear readers, is the point and what makes it fun. And it's notable to me that some of my most loyal readers, who have to comment on every post, are those who disagree with me the loudest. Columns and blogs should create a dialogue. My preference is that it's a respectful one, but some people have other ideas.

So when I see post like this accusing the Detroit Free Press editorial board of ... drum roll ... bias, I tend to snort. Feel free to disagree with its analysis. But yes, indeedy, the Freep has the more liberal editorial page of the two Motown papers, although it's pretty centrist. And yet this Republican is shocked, shocked that the editorial page would criticize Mike Cox for cozying up to the NRA. Next thing you're going to tell me is that the Detroit News will endorse a Republican for governor next year.

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Five years after starting my political column, 'hooker' is the insult de rigueur for women in Lansing

How was I supposed to know that when I began writing a political column five years ago that it would one day become fashionable to refer to powerful women in Lansing as hookers?

As most people who follow politics know, Sen. Rick Jones (R-Grand Ledge) became a trendsetter late last year in response to public relations executive Kelly Rossman-McKinney naming him and House Democrats the biggest political losers of 2011 in MIRS.

In his usual thoughtful and demure way, Jones took it upon himself to contact MIRS and compared Rossman to a hooker. It took Jones about a week to finally apologize, but he still seems content to blab about the matter, despite the wishes of Senate Majority Leader Randy Richardville (R-Monroe) and any Republican with a brain.

That should be the end of this sorry episode, but alas, it isn't. GOP political consultant Steve Linder jumped into the fray, suggesting Rossman was the problem and that her clients should ask for their money back. He was smart enough to quickly apologize.

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Gov. Rick Snyder's talent message: What happened to letting the market decide?

In Gov. Rick Snyder's latest special message, he made a vague pronouncement that community colleges, universities and trade schools should stop "overproducing" graduates in areas Michigan doesn't need.

He notes that Michigan could use people trained in computer programming, math, health care and engineering. But the governor doesn't say what programs colleges should cut or cut back.
There are a couple big problems with this big government solution. The first is that in Snyder's new business friendly culture, shouldn't we let the market decide? After all, if parents and students want to invest in art history or classical languages degrees, who is Gov. Snyder to dictate that schools stop offering them?

If enough people aren't interested in classes, universities drop them for the semester. The same can go for majors. How is it that the state of Michigan should be getting involved in this process?

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Your Michigan Legislature, a wholly owned subsidiary of Right to Life

The Michigan Legislature is continuing its quest to make embryonic stem cell research as difficult an endeavor as humanly possible in the Great Lakes State.

As of now, both the House and Senate Higher Education budgets require universities to report to the Legislature on all of their research activities -- even though most lawmakers' knowledge of the complexities of stem cell research could fit into a thimble. According to Dr. Sean Morrison, director of the University of Michigan Center for Stem Cell Biology, no other state in the country has reporting requirements.

"There is an extensive history in this area of opponents to embryonic stem cell research, year after year, misrepresenting the facts to scare the public into not supporting this work," Morrison said. ". . . I'm concerned this is an attempt to just collect data points that opponents can spin into misinformation. No matter what numbers are coming from the universities, there will be a reason to restrict research."

Of course, the Senate today might have voted on the Higher Ed budget a little quicker, had most of its members not taken a break to go to the Right to Life of Michigan luncheon. Really, you couldn't ask for a better demonstration of how things work around here.

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How much does Donald Trump want a tax cut? Enough to go birther

Donald Trump says he's interested in running for president as a Republican. Of course, he flirted with the idea of running as an independent back in 2000.

But now the world's classiest millionaire/billionaire (no one really knows for sure) has decided he's definitely a Republican -- and how.

To that end, he's expressed doubt that President Barack Obama was born in this country. And seeing how well that's played with the all-important lunatic fringe, he kept right on going on Fox News today.

"All of a sudden, a lot of facts are emerging and I'm starting to wonder myself whether or not he was born in this country," Trump said, because he's evidently incapable of using the Google to go to Factcheck.org.

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Go forth and vaccinate your children

Over my years as a reporter and editor, I've seen my fair share of scare stories about a supposed link between autism and routine childhood vaccinations.

This dates back to a 1980s study published in the British medical journal, The Lancet. Other studies have not shown a correlation.

There's been plenty of evidence for years that the idea was bunk, but in the name of "balanced reporting," some pretty bad journalism was committed in allowing quackery to be passed off as legitimate medicine. (He said-she said journalism isn't just for politics).

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